Just Friends
by Mari Chen
Summary: Everyone is on downtime because it’s winter break. Set during Arrancar arc. IchiRuki, IshiOri, HitsuHina, and others.


**Title:** Just Friends  
**Author:** Noiri  
**Genre:** Romance/Humor  
**Summary:** Everyone is on down-time because it's winter break. IchiRuki, IshiOri, HitsuHina, and others.  
**AN:** This is mostly just a silly humor thing. It's set during the Arrancar arc, but only because I'm using the room arrangements. We'll just assume that Aizen & Co. are vacationing in Aruba or something and are too busy to interrupt anything. There may be minor spoilers up to the latest manga. 

**In the Club**

Ishida Uryuu hummed softly to himself as he hemmed a strip of flower-printed silk. He congratulated himself on his choice of color. The pale blue peonies against the cream white background would compliment any girl's skin tone. The silk was quite high quality; Ishida never really trusted sewing machines to not snag the fabric, so he was sewing the entire piece by hand.

"Ishida-kun!"

He blanched as fellow Sewing Club member Orihime Inoue plopped down beside him.

"Oh! That cloth is so beautiful!" Orihime stared at the silk with shining eyes, then suddenly had a womanly-intuition revelation. "Is that a gift for Kuchiki-san?"

"Wha-?" Ishida stared at Inoue, who currently had on a sympathetic face. Where did she get that idea? "Uh, no, Inoue, it's not for Kuchiki-san, it's …." Ishida stuttered and pushed his glasses further up his nose. He didn't want to ruin the surprise, but he couldn't lie to Inoue either. What was he supposed to say?

Orihime giggled as Ishida's face turned bright red. 'Rukia is so lucky,' she thought, glancing at the silk. 'I wish Kurosaki-kun would do something like that for me.' Orihime felt a pang of some familiar emotion. Jealousy? No way. Kurosaki-kun would come through, one day. Orihime smiled brightly at Ishida. "Don't be so shy, Ishida-kun! Kuchiki-san will love it!"

**Lunch Break**

"Eh? Where's Ishida?" Ichigo scratched his head and looked around the classroom. Students were already filing out through the door, but the four-eyed Quincy was nowhere to be seen.

Rukia shrugged. "What happened?"

"It's just that he left this piece of cloth under his desk," Ichigo said, holding up a rectangle of white and blue silk.

From across the room, Orihime gasped as she saw Ichigo flitting around Ishida's prize silk as though it were a sticky fly. "Kurosaki-kun! That's part of Ishida-kun's gift for Kuchiki-san!"

Ichigo's eyes widened. "What? Ishida? Rukia?"

Orihime instantly clapped her hand to her mouth. She had ruined Ishida-kun's surprise! Would he be mad at her? 'I'd better explain,' Orihime thought. "I'm so sorry Kuchiki-san! Ishida-kun wanted to surprise you! He was using that cloth to sew clothes during Sewing Club!"

Rukia turned slightly red. Ichigo turned slightly purple. "Why the hell would Ishida go through the trouble of making a nice gift for her?" Ichigo snorted. Since when did Ishida like Rukia that much anyway? And moreover, why did everyone seem to harbor a little crush on Rukia? 'Bah!' thought Ichigo, 'Not like I give a damn either way. Really.'

Rukia's face changed from red back to white. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Fool, are you saying that I don't deserve nice gifts?" Rukia shouted, her veins twitching.

"I didn't say that, I just mean that I didn't think Ishida liked you that much!"

"You think Ishida hates me?"

"He doesn't hate you," Ichigo responded, wondering how he was going to worm his way out. "I just didn't think he liked you … more than a friend …"

"More than a friend? Like a sister? For your …" Rukia paused. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. More than a friend, huh. 'That's what Aiko said to Satoshi in chapter 3 of Papillon Princess!' she thought, proud that she could recall manga facts. Of course Ishida didn't like her that way. In fact, Rukia thought that he liked …

Orihime broke the silence. "But my womanly intuition," she said, pointing earnestly at her head, "told me that since Ishida-kun made such a beautiful dress for Kuchiki-san, and since he turns red whenever I say her name, and …"

Ichigo growled. He didn't want to hear this. Renji, Keigo, Ishida, and hell, probably even Hanatarou and that lot. Damn. "I gotta go eat lunch," he interrupted.

Orihime frowned. "Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo didn't hear her though, or perhaps he didn't want to hear. 'He seems to sad and angry,' Orihime thought. 'I wonder what it could be.'

**Go Ask Matsumoto**

"So," Orihime finished explaining another one of Ichigo's foul moods to Matsumoto, "he just walked out. He didn't yell, but I could sense it, he was angry."

Matsumoto nodded wisely. "Ah, Ichigo needs to loosen up. I should take him out drinking!"

Orihime waved her hands. "Wait! No! It's illegal for Ichigo to drink! I don't want to get him arrested, either!"

"Well, we're on winter break, aren't we?" Matsumoto said, looking pensively at the wall. "Ichigo could use a party or something." 'Parties are good,' she thought, 'then Hitsugaya won't be able to complain about my drinking and laziness …'

"Oh!" Orihime clapped her hands. "Rangiku-san, you're so smart! I'll throw a Christmas party with everyone! We can exchange gifts and play games and eat Santa Claus!"

"Eh?" Matsumoto said. "Ku-ri-su-ma-su? Santa Claus?"

Orihime nodded enthusiastically. "It's a western holiday! It's the birthday of Jesus! But there's also this old overweight man who lives in the North Pole, where it's really cold. That's weird though, because then I'd think he'd lose some calories. Maybe his wife makes him eat a lot! So this overweight man, Santa Claus, goes around on a sleigh and he gives out free presents! But I've never seen him before… anyway, I heard that it's tradition in France in eat something called … a 'Bouche de Noel'? Which I think means 'Body of Santa Claus'…"

"Oh … that's interesting," Matsumoto said. 'I had no idea that people still practiced cannibalism!' she thought. 'And on a poor overweight man!'

"Are you sure Histugaya-kun won't get mad? Does he like parties?"

"Oh, don't worry!" Matsumoto cried airily, "Hitsugaya just loves parties!"

"Really?" Orihime fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. "Well, I also saw this adorable kid's hat at the store last week. It's purple with yellow stars and a green and pink shoe at the top! I bought it as a Christmas present for Hitsugaya-kun, but I'm not sure if he'll like it…."

Matsumoto nearly choked. "Are you kidding?" she said, trying not to laugh, "Purple and yellow are Hitsugaya's favorite colors! And he loves kid's clothes!"

"Oh, really?" Orihime smiled. "That's perfect!"

**Next: Christmas shopping! Orihime decorates and tries to find the body of Santa Claus! Hitsugaya gets arrested for 1st degree murder!**

--;;;

**Sorry this story idea is so unoriginal … I'm just really bored and trying to procrastinate. Reviews appreciated!**


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